Chevron's links to governor's reorganization effort (gave big to governor, played key role)

Oil and gas giant ChevronTexaco used lobbyists, attorneys and trade organizations to influence Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ambitious plan to reorganize state government. To read the reports from the California Performance Review that the company helped shape visit the following sites:

This chapter calls for the limiting the activities of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. That agency, which issues permits for dredging and sand mining in the Bay Area, oversees activities related to Chevron's Richmond refinery.

Chevron complaints that the commission is overstepping its authority, made through a trade group, were included in the CPR but there was no mention of the commission's responses.

This chapter calls for streamlining the permit process for the construction of new oil refineries and the expansion of existing ones. Chevron, which owns two of the state's largest refineries in Richmond and El Segundo, wanted the state's help in revising existing laws so that local government officials would be required to make decisions more quickly on routine construction permits at refineries.

This chapter calls for reorganizing the regulatory process for picking the locations for refineries, tank farms, liquefied natural gas and other energy facilities. Chevron has two proposals to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Southern California and the Mexican state of Baja California.

All given credit on the CPR acknowledgment page are: Chevron's lobbyist, K.C. Bishop; Mike Barr, a lawyer with the San Francisco-based firm Pillsbury Winthrop, which represents Chevron; Mike Carroll, a lawyer with the firm Latham & Watkins and who represents Chevron; and affiliated lobbyists of the Western States Petroleum - Kahl/Pownall Advocates - which Chevron is also a member.

- To search Chevron's lobbing reports and campaign donations at the secretary of state's office take these steps:

Search: Gov. Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team, contribution report, Aug. 23, 2004.

lol

AP: Chevron Gave Big to Schwarzenegger

AP - Tom Chorneau

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites)'s ambitious plan to reorganize almost every aspect of state government was influenced significantly by oil and gas giant ChevronTexaco Corp., which managed to shape such key recommendations as the removal of restrictions on oil refineries.

Many corporations and interest groups participated in the governor's reform plan — known as the California Performance Review — but state records and interviews with the participants show Chevron enjoyed immense success in influencing the report through its array of lobbyists, attorneys and trade organizations.

And few corporations have spent so much political cash on the governor, either. Since Schwarzenegger's election last October, the San Ramon company has contributed more than $200,000 to his committees and $500,000 to the California Republican Party.

Chevron, whose officials acknowledge they lobbied hard to get their ideas in the report, is one of about 20 companies that paid to send the governor and his staff to this week's Republican National Convention in New York. On Wednesday, Schwarzenegger attended a closed-door meeting in New York with representatives of those companies, including Chevron. And just three weeks after the governor's office released the 2,700-page reorganization report, the company gave $100,000 to a Schwarzenegger-controlled political fund.

Environmental watchdogs and local agencies that regulate some of Chevron's operations complain that they had no such access, and that their counterproposals appear nowhere in the massive report.

Disclosure of Chevron's determined role in what many believe is the administration's most important political reform effort contrasts sharply with statements he made during last year's election campaign and afterward in which he promised to sweep out a corrupt system where "contributions go in, the favors go out."

Schwarzenegger launched the reorganization effort in January, calling the state bureaucracy a "mastodon frozen in time" that needed to be reviewed from top to bottom to eliminate waste and duplication. The administration said the recommendations in the report would save $32 billion over five years, a claim analysts said is exaggerated.

Although the governor's senior aides helped organize and oversee the reorganization effort, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger said the review staff, not the governor's office, was responsible for the report. Schwarzenegger announced the review in January and then appointed its two top members, who then assembled the rest of the staff.

Ashley Snee, the governor's deputy press secretary, said it was premature to assume any of the recommendations will be adopted and that those who are unhappy with parts of the report can comment at a series of statewide hearings on the proposal.

Proposals that would benefit Chevron are peppered throughout the four-volume report. They include:

_ Streamlining the permit process for the construction of new oil refineries and the expansion of existing ones. Chevron, which owns two of the state's largest refineries in Richmond and El Segundo, wanted the state's help in revising existing laws so local government officials would be required to make decisions more quickly on construction permits at refineries.

_ Streamlining the activities of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. That agency, which issues permits for dredging and sand mining in the Bay Area, oversees activities related to Chevron's interests in the Bay Area.

_ Reorganizing the regulatory process for picking the locations for refineries, tank farms, liquefied natural gas and other energy facilities. Chevron has two proposals to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Southern California and the Mexican state of Baja California.

"California's ability to produce gasoline is shrinking at the same time demand for gasoline is rising, contributing to California's dubious position as a national leader in the fuel prices. Time-consuming, costly and complex permitting processes are among the obstacles to expanding ... California's petroleum infrastructure to meet the growing demand," the CPR report said. "The state needs to streamline its permitting processes to allow supply to more readily keep pace with demand, so that price volatility and price differentials are reduced."

But Mark Petracca, a University of California, Irvine political scientist, said Chevron's considerable influence on the CPR report may taint the whole review because the study was presented to the public as an objective and authoritative analysis of how to fix state government.

"This is good old fashioned interest-group politics," Petracca said. "Powerful people who have money can hire powerful people and use occasions like this report to set the agenda for policy beneficial to those interests."

In response, Snee repeated that the report was independent of the governor's office.

Chevron's operations have drawn steady and critical scrutiny from state and federal regulators, including a settlement last October of a lawsuit with the U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) that required the company to install $275 million in air pollution equipment and pay $3.5 million in civil penalties.

Company officials said they were just doing their jobs through their vigorous participation in the CPR process, which included meeting with senior aides to the governor.

"This is what we are here for," said Jack Coffey, Chevron's general manager over state government relations, from New York where he was attending the Republican convention.

Chevron learned about the CPR early and "obviously understood their agenda," Coffey said, adding that while there was direct contact by company lobbyists, most contact came through trade groups of which Chevron is a member. "We made an effort to feed those trade associations who were more active."

But, Coffey said, Chevron's donations to Schwarzenegger are because of his "pro-business agenda" and have nothing to do with the CPR report.

In an interview, Chevron lobbyist K.C. Bishop said he met with Richard Costigan, Schwarzenegger's legislative affairs secretary, in April or May, about trouble the company was having with routine refinery permits and proposed legislation on the issue. At the end of the discussion, Bishop was directed to the CPR staff, which he visited a week or so later.

Neither the meeting with Costigan nor with CPR staff were reported in Chevron's quarterly lobbying filings.

Also acknowledged in the CPR report were Bishop; Mike Barr, a lawyer with the San Francisco-based firm Pillsbury Winthrop and who represents Chevron; and affiliated lobbyists of the Western States Petroleum — Kahl/Pownall Advocates — of which Chevron is also a member.

Meanwhile, the Bay Planning Coalition — a business-oriented group of which Chevron is a board member — contacted the governor's cabinet secretary over problems its members were having with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

Schwarzenegger's staff sent the coalition's issue to the CPR staff, which met with the coalition sometime in April, according Ellen Johnck, the coalition's executive director.

A letter from the coalition outlining the complaints — including some lodged by Chevron — was used a primary source for the CPR report that concluded BCDC had overstepped its authority. Although BCDC officials offered significant documentation to rebut the allegations, none of the commission's defense was included in the CPR report.

In its section about making it easier to locate refineries or LNG plants, the CPR report cites attorney Mike Carroll of the law firm Latham & Watkins as a source. Based in the firm's Orange County office, Carroll represents Chevron on a variety of regulatory issues, according to the firm's Web site.

Carroll did not return telephone calls for comment from The Associated Press.

Chevron has two LNG proposals — a $650 million facility that would be built offshore on an island near Tijuana in Baja California; and a second plan that would place a facility at Camp Pendleton in Orange County.

Schwarzenegger is expected to meet with Mexican officials in Mexicali later this month. One expected topic of discussion is Chevron's LNG proposal.

AB 502 enrolled

SUMMARY : Provides that if an applicant for a natural gas exploration or production development project and a public agency agree in writing to expedite the permit process, the public agency may temporarily contract out services and charge fees to pay for the expedition of those services or functions necessary to meet the time limits and requirements under the Permit Streamlining Act (PSA).

AB 808 Stalled in committee in 03

This bill is a major reorganization of California's energy regulatory apparatus.

This bill establishes an Energy Agency administered by the Secretary of Energy who is appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The Agency is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of all major aspects of state energy policy. The Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the California Independent System Operator (ISO), shall determine appropriate electricity reserve levels. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) shall ensure that electric corporations meet those reserve levels.

I have no idea what this one does so I'll just post if for informational purposes.

AB 1684 To enrollment

SUMMARY : Requires the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in consultation with the Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (CEC) to administer a self-generation incentive program for all combustion operated fossil fuel distributed generation projects as specified. Specifically, this bill :

1)Requires PUC to administer, until January 1, 2008, a self-generation incentive program in the same form as exists on January 1, 2004; and as established in AB 970 (Ducheny) Chapter 329, Statutes of 2000, only for Level 1 (photovoltaic, fuel cells operating on renewable fuel, and wind turbines) and Level 2 (fuel cells operating on renewable fuel) technologies.

2)Requires that Level 3 (microturbines, internal combustion engines and small gas turbine) technologies to meet an oxide of nitrogen (NOx) emission rate standard of .14 pounds per megawatthour by 2005 to qualify for the self generation incentive program.

3)Requires that by January 1, 2007, all combustion operated distributed generation projects using fossil fuel meet NOx emissions rate standard of .07 pounds per megawatthour and a minimum efficiency of 60% of useful energy output divided by fuel input.

4)Provides projects are still eligible for self generation incentives even though they don't meet NOx emissions rate standards as set combustion operated distributed generation if they operate solely on waste gas or if the air quality management district or air pollution control district issues a permit to the project because it will produce onsite net air emission benefits.

5)Requires distributed generation projects seeking eligibility for incentives under this program to first secure a permit before receiving any incentives.

6)Includes an urgency clause.

AB 1747 Chaptered

SUMMARY : Omnibus Natural Resources 2003-04 Budget Trailer Bill to make necessary changes to various natural resource departments and programs in order to implement the 2003-04 Budget Act.

The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill, and instead:

1)Establish guidelines and criteria for various elements and programs established by Proposition 50 (Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act of 2002).

2)Exempt all Proposition 50 and Proposition 40 (California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks, and Coastal Protection Act of 2002) expenditures from the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) review process.

3)Delete the 30% local match requirement for Proposition 40 Roberti-Z'berg-Harris grant funds appropriated in, or prior to the enactment of, the 2003-04 Budget Act.

4)Rename Sugar Pine Point Park, "Ed Z'berg Sugar Pine Point Park."

5)Require the Department of Parks and Recreation to provide written notification to the Legislature for all state-park property acquisitions over $5 million.

6)Extend the existing sunset date for Tidelands Oil Revenues to July 1, 2006.

7)Consolidate the Strong Motion Instrumentation and Seismic Hazards Mapping Fund to equitably distribute funds between the Seismic Hazards Mapping and Strong Motion Instrumentation programs.

8)Establish the Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Administrative Fund as a repository for the annual oil and gas assessment monies which support specific programs at the Department of Conservation.

9)Authorize the use of Renewable Resource Investment Fund monies to carry out the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) at the Department of Conservation.

10)Authorize the State Mining and Geology Board to serve as a lead agency, under certain conditions, pursuant to SMARA.

Ok this is the one I remembered.

AB 2643 SEN ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS Committe

SUMMARY : Requires the California Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (CEC) to prepare, as a component of the 2005 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR), an assessment of the costs and benefits of siting liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities within the state.

COMMENTS : Since 2000, retail and wholesale natural gas prices in California have been extremely volatile. These natural gas price swings are the result of an increased demand for natural gas by electric generators, a limited supply of natural gas within California, and limitations on the ability of natural gas pipelines to deliver gas to California. Growing demand for natural gas in California will likely continue to put upward pressures on natural gas prices. According to CEC, natural gas demand in California is predicted to increase by at least 10% over the next ten years.

While natural gas demand continues to rise, there are few existing options for additional supply in California. Over 85% of natural gas consumed in the state is piped into California from Texas, the Rocky Mountains, and Canada. Although pipeline capacity to California has increased by over 20% since 2001, increased natural gas demand in other western states will ultimately limit the availability of natural gas from these pipelines.

One alternative to meeting the growing pressures on California's natural gas markets is LNG. LNG is natural gas that has been turned into a liquid by cooling it to minus 259 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the gas is turned into a liquid it can be transported overseas by tanker then reclassified for use on the other end. Building LNG receiving terminals in or near California would open the state up to other sources of natural gas beyond the range of overland pipelines.

Currently there are several proposals for LNG facilities in or near California. Private companies have proposed building receiving terminals in Long Beach, in the ocean off Ventura County, and in Baja California. None of these proposals have received final approval to begin construction and each one still must address numerous environmental and safety concerns that have been raised by the local communities and governmental regulators. Additionally, at this time there is a dispute between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission as to the scope of each agency's jurisdiction over LNG facilities in California.

Well you're right of course, but I tell ya, it's like a water balloon. Any enterprise that tries to profit (and why else would anybody do anything) from alleviating the raging demand for energy is so suffocated and burdened by the "activists" supposedly acting for all the "little people" that enterprises, both large and small are forced to squander their resouces on political contributions as a very risky form of insurance to try to get anything done.

Some times it works, but usually it's automatically depicted as "corruption" and "undue influence," while the people I mentioned above have all the corrupt and undue influence that poisons everything with negativity with the media as their amplified megaphone!!!

Who wants to risk an investment in such stymied enterprise anyway??? There's nothing illegitimate about trying to bring energy to market on an affordable basis! We all need it and use it and bich about the price of it. Even the "anti-everything" activists do it. It's stupid and un-American!!! Especially when it's regulated into near monopolies by Public Utilitiy Commissions, or land monopolies by Coastal Commissions and CONservancies!!!

It's all wrong, I tell ya! The people, through the free market can vote every danged day with their dollars to wipe out monopolies through competition! It's been done before. The railroads over-played their hand in getting assistance from government in opening up the west and once government got in there, nobody can ever get it out again!

This is where I disagree with do-gooders through government like Hiram Johnson and Teddy Roosevelt! They're Capitalists alright, political capitalists trying to make themselves into populist mesiah's through the pure unadulterated force of government, legislating, litigating, regulating and taxing everything to death!!!

They come off as "champions of the people," yet in the end, the people's benefit is shrunk by not being able to vote everyday with their dollars. At least they can still vote with their feet to some extent, but this stuff is becoming so widespread around the US, that there's hardly a state left that hasn't been totally infested with these activist politicians, judges, or just plain self-annointed negativity nazis screwing everything up!!!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.